Discovering a new underwater world: your first scuba dive

Posted on September 17, 2015

A rush of adrenalin sweeps through you as you slip from the bright, sun-heated boat deck with your scuba equipment for the first time into the temperate warmth of the Indian Ocean and enter an entirely new world.

For a moment everything you’ve been told about hand signals, buoyancy aids and breathing regulators fades away and you are overwhelmed by a wealth of new experiences flooding your senses.

Like Alice through the looking glass, everything feels the same and yet strange and different; your breathing sounds loud and unnatural in your ears, your body is light and weightless and your movements heavy and slow.

Explore a vibrant world of colour and life

New found freedom

But the next moment, as your body adjusts to its new freedom from gravity, your eye is caught by a sudden flash of colour as a fish speeds by and you feel your pulse calm and the adrenalin begin to fade as you become transfixed by the stunning beauty of the vibrant coral reef before you, teaming with life and colour.

A gentle flip of your fins takes you closer, where you can float, weightless and free, in the midst of this new, alien world, an intriguing visitor worthy of exploration by some of the reef’s more curious inhabitants like the playful unicorn fish which loves to swim in the bubbles you exhale.

Angle and butterfly fish flutter past while sweetlips and octopus keep close to the rock faces, hiding amidst the rich corals spread across the ocean floor.

All too soon you will get the signal from your instructor that your time in this strange new world has come to an end but as you resurface back into the glorious sunshine, you’ll know it’s waiting down there, ready for your next visit.